If you're active, watch your diet, and have been successful at maintaining a healthful weight, you may have managed to keep your cholesterol levels under control ... or not. Lifestyle wields control over your cholesterol response but so do your genes. It's quite possible that no matter how hard you work to keep your cholesterol levels down, the influence of your family's genes could thwart it.A study due out in the July 8 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found just that. Researchers tested the cholesterol response in identical twins (with identical genes), and found their levels were about the same - even though one exercised regularly while one was relatively sedentary, even though one ate a low-fat diet while the other ate a high-fat one.
Lifestyle matters, but it's always a good idea to monitor and manage your lipid levels with your healthcare provider.
For a summary of the study:
Bad Cholesterol: Genes Make the Difference
For the study itself:
Concordant lipoprotein and weight responses to dietary fat change in identical twins with divergent exercise levels
